1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a method and system for determining whether a beacon device is abnormal and, more particularly, to technology that is capable of determining whether a beacon device is abnormal via a plurality of beacon devices configured to be installed in a shop, via a user terminal configured to receive beacon signals from the plurality of beacon devices, and via a service server configured to receive approach information related to the plurality of beacon devices from the user terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advancements of mobile communication technology and user terminal-hardware and software technology, services that can push various types of information into user terminals have been provided. As an example of the services that can be provided to user terminals, a service in which a beacon device is installed in a shop, the location information of user terminals is obtained and then content suitable for the corresponding shop is provided to the user terminals has appeared.
A typical beacon service is briefly described below. When at least one beacon device configured to output a signal (hereinafter referred to as a beacon signal) containing the location information of a shop is installed in the shop and a user terminal is located in the shop and identifies the beacon signal, the user terminal transmits approach information related to the beacon device to a service server configured to provide beacon service over a mobile communication network, and the service server determines the current location of the user terminal and then provides various types of content, such as an advertisement, a coupon, and the accumulation of points.
Meanwhile, a situation in which the output strength of a beacon signal decreases or a beacon signal cannot be output may occur due to the failure of a beacon device or the exhaustion of a battery. Since the beacon device that is used to provide beacon service cannot connect to a separate network, corresponding information cannot be transmitted to the service server if the beacon device is abnormal. In this case, in order to determine whether the beacon device is abnormal, an administrator should directly determine whether the beacon device is abnormal offline.
This conventional technology is problematic in that, when an unexpected abnormality occurs in a beacon device, it is impossible to immediately determine whether the beacon device is abnormal, although a shop owner who has subscribed to the beacon service and the user of the user terminal suffer losses.
Meanwhile, the above descriptions of the related art are intended to promote the understanding of the background of the present invention, and should not be construed in any way as an admission as to prior art already known to those skilled in the art.